Calgary Property Assessments

House Prices: Advanced Regression Techniques

In this article, we use a dataset from Kaggle.com.

Competition Description

Ask a home buyer to describe their dream house, and they probably won't begin with the height of the basement ceiling or the proximity to an east-west railroad. But this playground competition's dataset proves that much more influences price negotiations than the number of bedrooms or a white-picket fence.

With 79 explanatory variables describing (almost) every aspect of residential homes in Ames, Iowa, this competition challenges you to predict the final price of each home.

Data Description

File descriptions

Data fields

Here's a brief version of what you'll find in the data description file.

Feature Description Feature Description
SalePrice the property's sale price in dollars. HeatingQC Heating quality and condition
MSSubClass The building class CentralAir Central air conditioning
MSZoning The general zoning classification Electrical Electrical system
LotFrontage Linear feet of street connected to property 1stFlrSF First Floor square feet
LotArea Lot size in square feet 2ndFlrSF Second floor square feet
Street Type of road access LowQualFinSF Low quality finished square feet (all floors)
Alley Type of alley access GrLivArea Above grade (ground) living area square feet
LotShape General shape of property BsmtFullBath Basement full bathrooms
LandContour Flatness of the property BsmtHalfBath Basement half bathrooms
Utilities Type of utilities available FullBath Full bathrooms above grade
LotConfig Lot configuration HalfBath Half baths above grade
LandSlope Slope of property Bedroom Number of bedrooms above basement level
Neighborhood Physical locations within Ames city limits Kitchen Number of kitchens
Condition1 Proximity to main road or railroad KitchenQual Kitchen quality
Condition2 Proximity to main road or railroad (if a second is present) TotRmsAbvGrd Total rooms above grade (does not include bathrooms)
BldgType Type of dwelling Functional Home functionality rating
HouseStyle Style of dwelling Fireplaces Number of fireplaces
OverallQual Overall material and finish quality FireplaceQu Fireplace quality
OverallCond Overall condition rating GarageType Garage location
YearBuilt Original construction date GarageYrBlt Year garage was built
YearRemodAdd Remodel date GarageFinish Interior finish of the garage
RoofStyle Type of roof GarageCars Size of garage in car capacity
RoofMatl Roof material GarageArea Size of garage in square feet
Exterior1st Exterior covering on house GarageQual Garage quality
Exterior2nd Exterior covering on house (if more than one material) GarageCond Garage condition
MasVnrType Masonry veneer type PavedDrive Paved driveway
MasVnrArea Masonry veneer area in square feet WoodDeckSF Wood deck area in square feet
ExterQual Exterior material quality OpenPorchSF Open porch area in square feet
ExterCond Present condition of the material on the exterior EnclosedPorch Enclosed porch area in square feet
Foundation Type of foundation 3SsnPorch Three season porch area in square feet
BsmtQual Height of the basement ScreenPorch Screen porch area in square feet
BsmtCond General condition of the basement PoolArea Pool area in square feet
BsmtExposure Walkout or garden level basement walls PoolQC Pool quality
BsmtFinType1 Quality of basement finished area Fence Fence quality
BsmtFinSF1 Type 1 finished square feet MiscFeature Miscellaneous feature not covered in other categories
BsmtFinType2 Quality of second finished area (if present) MiscVal Value of miscellaneous feature
BsmtFinSF2 Type 2 finished square feet MoSold Month Sold
BsmtUnfSF Unfinished square feet of basement area YrSold Year Sold
TotalBsmtSF Total square feet of basement area SaleType Type of sale
Heating Type of heating SaleCondition Condition of sale

Data

Features

Alley: Type of alley access to property

BldgType: Type of dwelling

BsmtCond: Evaluates the general condition of the basement

BsmtExposure: Refers to walkout or garden level walls

BsmtFinSF1: Type 1 finished square feet

BsmtFinSF2: Type 2 finished square feet

BsmtFinType1: Rating of basement finished area

BsmtFinType2: Rating of basement finished area (if multiple types)

BsmtFullBath: Basement full bathrooms

BsmtHalfBath: Basement half bathrooms

BsmtQual: Evaluates the height of the basement

BsmtUnfSF: Unfinished square feet of basement area

CentralAir: Central air conditioning

Condition1: Proximity to various conditions

Condition2: Proximity to various conditions (if more than one is present)

Electrical: Electrical system

ExterCond: Evaluates the present condition of the material on the exterior

ExterQual: Evaluates the quality of the material on the exterior

Exterior1st: Exterior covering on house

Exterior2nd: Exterior covering on house (if more than one material)

Fence: Fence quality

FireplaceQu: Fireplace quality

Foundation: Type of foundation

Functional: Home functionality (Assume typical unless deductions are warranted)

GarageArea: Size of garage in square feet

GarageCars: Size of garage in car capacity

GarageCond: Garage condition

GarageFinish: Interior finish of the garage

GarageQual: Garage quality

GarageType: Garage location

GarageYrBlt: Year garage was built

Heating: Type of heating

HeatingQC: Heating quality and condition

HouseStyle: Style of dwelling

KitchenQual: Kitchen quality

LandContour: Flatness of the property

LandSlope: Slope of property

LotConfig: Lot configuration

MSZoning: Identifies the general zoning classification of the sale

LotFrontage: Linear feet of street connected to property

LotShape: General shape of property

MSSubClass: Identifies the type of dwelling involved in the sale

MasVnrArea: Masonry veneer area in square feet

MasVnrType: Masonry veneer type

MiscFeature: Miscellaneous feature not covered in other categories

Neighborhood: Physical locations within Ames city limits

OverallCond: Rates the overall condition of the house

PavedDrive: Paved driveway

PoolQC: Pool quality

RoofMatl: Roof material

RoofStyle: Type of roof

SaleCondition: Condition of sale

SaleType: Type of sale

Street: Type of road access to property

TotalBsmtSF: Total square feet of basement area

Utilities: Type of utilities available

Final Output


References

  1. Kaggle Dataset: House Prices - Advanced Regression Techniques